A pleasant Grey family reunion is brought to a screeching halt as John Grey, Marvel Girl's grandfather, is gruesomely incinerated by a group of assassins contracted by the Shi'ar. Marvel Girl has little time to mourn his death as she sends out a telepathic scream to the other X-Men and springs into action. The X-Men arrive to lend Rachel a hand, but the assassins are far too speedy in their slaughter. In just 24 short seconds, the Shi'ar Death Commandos rage forth and pick off the Grey family members one by one. At the end of the struggle, the distraught Rachel Grey climbs out of the crumbling ashes that once was her grandparent's home. She's immediately struck down by the Commando's leader who strips the clothes off her back and burns a Phoenix-shaped tattoo on her skin; a deathmark that will never allow her to hide from the Shi'ar Empire again.

Notes

Trivia

Though the Imperial Guard slay all Greys who carry the Genome, they also slay Roy Dennefer and his wife Phyllis who are not directly related by blood, but relatives of Elaine Grey who is a Grey by marriage.

12 of the Grey Relatives are murdered within a 24 second span. Another three of the relations are supposedly killed off-panel sometime between the minutes spanning this issue and the next.

Elaine Grey, though not present in this issue is mentioned as being upstairs as the massacure begins.